George H. Pendleton

George Hunt Pendleton (19 July 1825-24 November 1889) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-OH 1) from 4 March 1857 to 4 March 1865 (succeeding Timothy C. Day and preceding Benjamin Eggleston) and a US Senator from 4 March 1879 to 4 March 1885 (succeeding Stanley Matthews and preceding Henry B. Payne).

Biography
George Hunt Pendleton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1825, the son of Nathanael G. Pendleton and the grandson of Nathaniel Pendleton, who served as Alexander Hamilton's "second" during his fatal 1804 duel with Aaron Burr. Pendleton became a lawyer in 1847, married the daughter of Francis Scott Key, and served in the State Senate from 1854 to 1856 and in the US House of Representatives from 1857 to 1865. In 1864, he served as Democratic presidential nominee George B. McClellan's running mate, but they lost to the incumbent Abraham Lincoln and his running mate Andrew Johnson with 45% of the vote. Pendleton, a leader of the Copperheads, staunchly opposed the idea of racial equality, seeing black people casting ballots, black representatives, and racial mixing as unnatural. He lost re-election and also lost the 1868 Democratic presidential primary and he lost the 1869 Ohio gubernatorial election. From 1879 to 1885, he served as a US Senator, supporting civil service exams for government positions. The act helped to put an end to patronage, but, as the Democrats were heavily involved with the spoils system, they chose not to renominate Pendleton. From 1885 to 1889, he served as ambassador to the German Empire, and he died in Brussels, Belgium later that year.